After a first half performance that signalled the Bay of Plenty Steamers could be cruising towards an easy victory, they went off the boil after halftime allowing Northland to come back and win 28-23.
In their first Mitre 10 Cup game of the season in Whangarei today,the Steamers took a 23-7 lead into halftime thanks to a dominant first performance.
However, they were ambushed by a much improved Northland side in the second half.
BOP shot out of the gates when debutant lock Tom Franklin enjoyed a dream start to his Steamers career with a try in the opening minutes.
The try came from a period of sustained pressure inside the Northland 22. The Steamers patiently worked the ball side to side before No8 Tyler Ardron popped an offload to Franklin who was too big and strong for the Northland defenders.
BOP dominated territory and possession in the first 20 minutes of the game. Their backline was doing everything at pace and showed a willingness to run the ball out of their own half.
Veteran Steamers first five Mike Delany was using all his experience in pulling the strings for his side and after 28 minutes kicked a penalty goal to make it 10-0.
Minutes later BOP had their second try thanks to a dazzling piece of play by winger Monty Ioane. He came in-field looking for work, put a big sidestep on Dan Pryor, broke a tackle and showed blistering speed to race in under the posts. BOP led 17-0 with 10 minutes left in the half.
Northland battled hard to get on the scoreboard and with five minutes left in the half had their first try. They kept the ball in hand for multiple phases inside the Steamers' 22 before prop Howard Sililoto drove over and just got the ball down on the try line.
Delany added another two penalties to give the Steamers a 23-7 lead at halftime.
The halftime team talks were effective for Northland who came out firing in the second half. Rather than kick the ball away like they did in the first half they decided to start running it and really stretched the BOP defence.
In the 52nd minute they were rewarded when reserve loose forward Jack Ram showed great strength to drive over the try line from short range. The try was converted and at 23-14 it was game on.
Northland continued to pummel the Bay's defensive line and with 20 minutes to play reduced the deficit to 23-21 thanks to a converted try by fullback Matt Wright who found space on the right, inside the visitors' 22, and shot through to score under the posts.
In the 67th minute Northland took the lead for the first time.
They had the ball in hand just outside the Steamers' 22 when Rene Ranger through a massive cut-out pass to reserve winger Jone Macilai who went over in the right-hand corner.
Experienced first five Peter Breen, who had come off the bench, nailed a difficult conversion to make the lead 28-23, meaning the Steamers would need to score a try to get back in the game.
The Steamers had their opportunities to score in the final 10 minutes but, visibly tired from all the defensive work they had been forced to do, just couldn't find a way over the line.
Steamers coach Clayton McMillan said credit had to be given to Northland and the way they fought back in the second half.
"They chanced their arm a little bit and put us under pressure. Under a bit of pressure some of the things that had been good for us, like the scrum and lineout, got a bit wobbly and resulted in us failing to exit out of our zone as comfortably as we did in the first half," McMillan said.
He said there were plenty of positives to take out of his side's first half performance and they would not dwell on the loss.
"I thought it was an outstanding first half - very accurate and we even left a few opportunities out on the park. Going into the sheds we were acutely aware that they weren't going to just lie down on their home turf.
"We didn't deal with that well enough today. We won't get too carried away with the negative result, it's a hard lesson to learn first up but we'll need to learn from it quickly and get up for the next challenge in Rotorua," he said.
The Steamers' next game is against Hawke's Bay at the Rotorua International Stadium at 5.45pm on Friday.